Sr. Cloud Desk Specialist

OPENTEXT - THE INFORMATION COMPANY

As the Information Company, our mission at OpenText is to create software solutions and deliver services that redefine the future of digital. Be part of a winning team that leads the way in Enterprise Information Management.  

Departmental Objectives: The over-riding purpose or objective of the department as it contributes to the greater organization. The primary objective of the Worldwide Deal Desk organization is to provide deal-based sales support with expert advice, guidance, pricing & commercial strategies along with auditable deal P&Ls, approvals and cost + margin revenue control at a deal by deal level, ensuring that OpenText corporate policies are maintained and followed and that this results in good healthy contracts and business for OpenText.

In addition, the OpenText Enterprise Cloud business provides value-added alternative software delivery options via Cloud Services to OpenText software customers.   By offering cloud-based managed hosting and SaaS delivery services, the OpenText Enterprise Cloud business enables OpenText to deepen the business relationship with customers.

You are great at:

Purpose/Objective: The purpose of the Deal Manager, Cloud Deal Desk as part of the Worldwide Deal Desk is to provide guidance through the sales cycle along with deal-based pricing and P&Ls for review, approval and releasing to the customer, whilst meeting corporate policies and audit requirements.  Once a Cloud opportunity is identified, the cloud deal desk manager works closely with the responsible Account Executive (sales), Solutions Consultant (presales) and a Presales Architect in a supportive role as the Cloud solution SME to achieve a successful outcome of the quote to close process.   The Cloud Deal Desk Manager is also responsible for regional pipeline tracking into the Cloud Deal Desk Regional Manager’s pipeline (in support of the WW Pipeline) for a weekly cross-functional pipeline review. In addition, they help to define and improve cloud offerings and related processes through participation in various internal working groups and works with and supports other members of the Cloud Deal Desk group and the Regional manager & Director as necessary. Creative thinking along with deal P&L management and innovative pricing strategies and structures that fulfill the customer’s requirements, whilst maximizing profitability and revenue for OpenText.

Position Outcomes: (high level tasks, the end result of the individual’s efforts).  The main duties generally performed by an employee in this role. The outcome of successful performance in this role is successful & efficient deal specific support, advice & guidance along with pricing provided to sales and senior management.  

Daily tasks include:

• Understanding products, pricing, and contracting.
• Drawing insights from pricing and deal structure trends across the region, revenue streams and product sets and advising senior decision makers.
• Working closely with Sales in the EMEA region and other regions as required, along with other teams that support the deal cycle such as Legal, Professional Services, Security, Sales Operations, Product, as well as Support to enhance value and consistency across all geographic regions.
• Communicating with Sales and senior executives to provide Deal Desk messaging and to review specific transactions, seeking necessary approvals as required by internal corporate policy.
• Representing CEO and CFO in evaluating and approving transactions for maximum overall value
• Supporting Sales in the EMEA region by owning the preparation of the P&L and pricing for all new Cloud deals and contract renewals and issuing approved pricing.
• Successfully negotiated contracts that represent good cloud business for OpenText.
• Participating in, or leading as required, commercial business terms negotiations with customers and internal stakeholders including the coordination of technical, financial and legal aspects of the deals, whilst always ensuring that the company’s interests and customer needs are maintained.
• Enhancing existing processes to streamline the sales cycle.

Qualifications

Technical Proficiency (optional): Minimum qualifications the incumbent must possess in order to qualify for the role, not including acceptable equivalents.    

• Experience in P&L management for multi-year cost + margin cloud services.
• Experience with SalesForce.com.
• Advanced experience with Microsoft Word & Excel.
• Knowledge of OT product offerings (a benefit).
• Understanding of cloud-based software & services delivery and hosting operations.
• Functional Proficiency/knowledge: Minimum functional qualifications the incumbent must possess in order to qualify for the role, not including acceptable equivalents.    
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
• Effective & strong leadership skills.
• Experience interacting with customers & sales.
• Self-motivated and driven.
• Ability to work as part of a sales team to contribute subject matter expertise in support of a successful sales outcome.
• Ability to present to senior execs for deal reviews.
• Ability to coordinate activities, share ideas, collaborate, and communicate with team members located at locations around the world and working on different time zones and work schedules.
• Demonstrated willingness to take full ownership and responsibility for assigned tasks and support issues.
• Fluent in English, both written & verbal. Additional languages, a plus.
• Strong contractual negotiation skills along with aspects of drafting when required alongside legal and the cloud contracts team.
• Cross functional influencing skills.
• Experience in delivering high quality guidance against challenging timelines.
• Strong business and financial acumen, and ability to work with contracts teams for commercial language.
• Detail oriented.
• Cloud services industry experience is a distinct advantage.
• Strong organizational and time management skills along with the ability to work unsupervised.
• Extensive experience in quickly reading and understanding revenue contracts.
• Understanding products, pricing, and contracting.
• Drawing insights from pricing and deal structure trends across the region, revenue streams and product sets and advising senior decision makers.

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Law or similar fields required;

Master’s degree and/or Professional designation (in Accounting, Finance or Legal) a plus.

Experience:

Suggested experience that will generally predict success in the role.  To be used as a guide and maybe substituted for demonstrated ability to perform all functions of the role.       

• 5-10 years of Deal Desk, Finance, Bid Management, Accounting, Legal, Purchasing and/or Sales Operations background.

Competencies   

Ability to Learn:  Assimilates and applies new job-related information for varying sources promptly and effectively; shows desire to broaden knowledge and perspective; learns from both successes and failures. 

Adaptability: Overcomes resistance to change and or obstacles; maintains effectiveness despite changing tasks, responsibilities, coworkers, and environments; works changes in priorities and team composition into work processes.

Analysis and Problem Solving: Applies a systematic approach to problem solving; relates and compares data from different sources, identifies issues, secures relevant information, and spots connections in the data before developing strategic plans for solving problems.

Communication: Articulates ideas and instructions both written and orally to diverse audiences; initiates communication in difficult situations or with unreceptive individuals and groups; helps to create and facilitate open communication in a team environment.

Customer Service Orientation: Ability to keep balance between company policy and interests of customers. Candidate's answer should show they are accommodating and eager to assist customer needs while being cautious enough not to promise more than they can deliver.

Initiative and Innovation: Makes active attempts to influence events to achieve goals; self-starting rather than passively accepting; takes action to achieve goals beyond standard expectations even in the face of resistance.

Integrity and Ethics:  Stays within ethical and legal guidelines; shows reliability, consistency and demonstrates respect for others; understands how the impact of their actions could affect the company.

Leadership and Management: Manages a team through clear objective setting, efficient delegation of tasks, conflict management, and thoughtful leadership; keeps the sales teams focused on key objectives that drive performance and competitive advantage; develops an environment conducive to developing strong working relationships.

Teamwork: Works effectively with others in the organization and outside the formal lines of authority (i.e., peers, other units, senior management) to accomplish organizational goals Addresses conflicts and disagreements proactively that affect team cohesiveness; considers the impact of their decisions on others and shares credit with others for team accomplishments. 

Planning and Organization: Establishes a course of action for self to accomplish specific goals; manages time, resources and agenda effectively to avoid waste; for group leader’s plans proper assignments for personnel and appropriately allocates resources.

Technical and Professional Knowledge: Understands technical and professional information necessary for job; learns and applies technical and professional skills; seeks to stay current with developments in fields related to job.

Work Standards: Sets high goals or standards of performance for self, subordinates, others and the organization; experiences dissatisfaction with average performance; addresses others when their standards are affecting team performance.

Some travel required for meetings/conferences and customer presentations.
Some working outside of normal working hours may be required due to time zones.

At OpenText we understand and value diversity in our employees and are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.